Iceless refrigerator



A. R.- FELSTRUP.

ICELESS REFRIGERATOR...

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 5. 1918.

Patented May 27, 1919;

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

INVENTOR IHHIH IIHIHH ATTORNEY WITNESSES W fi ANDREW It. FELSTRUF, OF SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA.

IcnLRss REFRIGERATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2'7, 1919.

Application filed March 5, 1918. Serial No. 220,611.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ANDREW R. FELs'rRUP, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Diego, in the county of San Diego and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Iceless Refrigerators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to refrigerators, and more especially to those in which the air is cooled by causing it to come into contact with bags or pouches containing water, as for use in countries and places where ice is not readily available; and the object of the same is to improve the construction of a refrigerator of this kind.

This object is carried out by constructing the refrigerator in the manner hereinafter more fully described and claimed and as shown in the drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective View of this re frigerator complete,

Figs. 2 and 3 are vertical sections at right angles to each other,

Fig. 4. is a side elevation, and

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section of one of the water bags or pouches.

This improved refrigerator is by preference made up of an outer casing of wood and an inner casing or lining of metal. The former includes a front panel 1 having two openings 2 in which doors 3 are hinged at one side at 4 and latched at the other side as at 5, a rear panel 6 having upper and lower large openings 7 and two side panels 8 each also having upper and lower large openings 9, all the large openings being covered with wire screening 10. Feet 11 de pend from the four corners, and preferably carry casters 12 as shown. The top 13 is rabbeted or shouldered as at 14 around its edges, and fits removably into the upper ends of the front and rear and side panels, and therefore it may be lifted off when desired.

The inner casing is a sheet-metal box broadly indicated by the numeral 15. Its front and rear panels as well as its side panels have openings 16 corresponding with,

but somewhat smaller than the large openings in the Outer casing directly opposite,

and said box may have shelves 17 or cleats on its interior as usual for supporting food or other articles to be cooled, or for supporting trays or drawers on which and into which the food .and articles are placed. This box is by preference supported from the outer casing entirely at the front of the latter. For this purpose it has flanges 18 above and below and around the two door openings 2, and screws or bolts 19 through the flanges connect with the front pdnel 1 as best seen in Figs. 1 and 2. By this means an open space is left entirely around all remaining sides of the boX and above and below it as shown.

The cooling agent, instead of being ice as customarily used in refrigerators, is a series of water bags, the same being best seen in Figs. 1 and 5. The body portion of each bag 21 is close-woven fabric. Metal strips 22 reinforce the same along both edges; other metal strips reinforce the body along its lower edge and constitute a gutter 23 as best seen in Fig. 5, and wooden strips 24 are laid against opposite sides of the body along its upper edge and held clamped together by means of clips 25 as best seen also in Fig. 5. The bag has a filling nipple 26 closed in any suitable manner as at 27 and a handle 28 in the shape of a bail by which it may be carried from point to point and supported in position. These bags are disposed in place in the space around the refrigerator between its inner and outer cas ings, as best seen in Figs. 2 and 3, the handles or bails being engaged with suitable hooks 29 provided for that purpose. It is to be understood that these bags are filled with water as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the water distending them so that their outer sides lie against the screening 10 in the openings 9 of the outer casing, while their inner sides close the openings 16 of the inner casing; or in other words, these water bags make upwalls for the upper and lower compartments of the inner casing, as they are disposed at both sides and in the rear of these compartments, leaving the front open to be closed by the doors 3. The bags can be inserted into this position and removed from it by raising the top 13 from time to time. The water will seep slowly through the fabric bags on both their inner and outer sides, and run down the same into the gutters 23, whence the water in time will run .into the pan with which the refrigerator is provided either inside or outside as usual. The moistened surfaces of the bags will be subject to evaporation, thus lowering the temperature of the Water and maintaining a corresponding temperature of the air within the interior of the box-like casing of the refrigerator. Furthermore, the bags act like baflies between the exterior and interior air, to keep all drafts from the refrigerator. Now when the air passes into the openings in the outer casing, it strikes the bags and passes upward alongside them so that they are 'cooled, and this cooling has two results. First and principally, it cools the air which then acts to preserve the contents of the refrigerator. Second, the cooling of the Water within the bag causes it to act in the nature of a baffle interposed between the cooler air insideti he refrigerator and the air outside of the sabre; and therefore, although there are ample openings in the sides and back of the structure, these openings are impeded to such an extent that they are closed by the bags which latter consequently serve in the nature of a water jacket. The removable top is obviously for the purpose of permitting access to the interior as for withdrawing and replacingthe bags, and for cleaning out the space between the casings from time to time as may be thought desirable. I refrain from giving proportions of parts, as they are not essential to this specification. Also the matter of materials of parts may be left to the manufacturer, and the completed article may be provided with refinements not necessary to amplify.

What is claimed as new is In a refrigerator, the combination with a casing of wood having openings in its sides and back and door closed openings in its front, screening over the side and rear openings, an inner casing of metal having openings in its sides and rear registering with and smaller than those in the outer casing and flanges across the top and bottom of its front secured to the front wall of the outer casing above and below the door openings, and a removable top giving access to the space between said casings; of a series of flat water bags reinovably disposed in said space and each having a body of fabric, a gutter across its lower edge, and a hookshaped handle at its upper edge, each bag when in place resting at its outer side against the screening of the outer casing and its inner side substantially closing the opening in the inner casing directly opposite all as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereofI affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ANDREW R. FELSTRUP. Witnesses C. 0. MAY, H. KALLENBERGER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

